Padvaamat

Our Hindi cinema incepted with historic and mythological tales and kept churning out films under these genres for decades. The post independence era shifted its base to modern and socially relevant subjects. But there were film makers, who enhanced the historical dramas with total grandeur and a little dash of fition. ‘Mughal-E-Azam’, ‘Razia Sultan’, ‘Amrapali, ‘Meera’ and few more managed to create their mark for various reasons followed by films such as ‘Jodha Akbar’, ‘Asoka’ and others. The hard work and effort behind these films was painstaking and in some cases unimaginable. Thus, every time a film was being made in this genre, the stakes were high as it had to be spectacular as well as magnanimous. Failing to which many ambitious films were launched but could not be perceived. In recent times with our filmmakers trying to match up to the international grandness started re-venturing into this genre with films such as ‘Baahubali’, ‘Bajirao Mastani’ and few more. ‘Padvaamat’ is the latest addition in the small list of such films. The movie like many historical or let’s say fiction laced historical dramas have been in controversial news, which after a given point crossed all the parameters. Finally, the movie manages to see its release daylight. Thus, let’s find out whether ‘Padmaavat’, will manage to give us one more spectacular film or might fail to match up to the mammoth expectation levels.

Story:

‘Padmaavat’ is a story set in the 13th & 14th century, when Maharawal Ratan Singh (Shahid Kapoor) banishes Raghav Chetan (Aayam Mehta) for invading his private moments.. In order to seek Raghav Chetan, describes the eternal beauty of Maharawal Ratan Singh’s wife Rani Padmavati (Deepika Padukone) to the ruler of Delhi Sultanate Alauddin Khilji (Ranveer Singh). Alauddin has weakness for undesirable stuffs and decides to posses Rani Padmavati. Alauddin with his massive army strike a war with Maharawal Ratan Singh and what happens next is what the entire film is all about.

Screenplay & Technical Details:

The story is inspired from the epic poem, ‘Padmavat’ written by Malik Mahummad Jayasi and is considered as a fiction laced history. It’s a pure blend of facts and fiction making it sound totally realistic. The scale used for this movie is massive and the movie gives you an experience of watching a big international spectacular. Right from the first scene of the film, every frame is visually enriching. Though, the character establishing part seemed bit hurried and failed to connect. The entire Raghav Chetan track was not rightly justified. The whole reason for Raghav Chetan to do such non pardoned act was unexplained. There is lot happening on screen thus the movie takes some time to settle down. The middle portions were bit draggy. The traditional speeches seemed verbose after sometime. Ranveer meeting Shahid is one of the finest situation in the first half of the film. Every expression, every dialogue and every frame in this situation was up to the mark. Sadly, the same was not seen in many important situation such as the sacrifice of Gora-Badal, Deepika saving Shahid and the finale act of Deepika. These situations needed more detailing and should had created a stronger impact. The hard hitting factor in these scenes was highly missing. The movie also ends up bit abruptly without a proper closure. Luckily, every scene involving Ranveer Singh is a gem. If he is killing his own uncle or making love to his wife or lusting about Deepika or murmuring to himself or is planning and plotting something, Ranveer is flawless in every scene and situation. His character and people around him were highly interesting. Also, the best thing about ‘Padmavaat’ is that even if the screenplay fails, the visual treat continues. The dialogues at some level are applause worthy while in few situations seemed irritating. The cinematography by Sudeep Chatterjee is mesmerizing. The scale and shot framing in this movie surpasses even the standards of Sanjay Leela Bhansali. The 3D and IMAX effects enhances the cinematic experiences to fine level. The minute detailing along with camera placement in this movie is fantastic. The editing in initial part of the movie was hurried while in the middle portions seemed dragging and boring at times.

Music:

The music is decent but should have been fantastic. ‘Ghoomar’, with new modifications looked great on big screen. ‘Ek Dil Ek Jaan’ is the best song from the film. ‘Khalibali’ is bit loud but has mind blowing dance by Ranveer with full energy placed in it. ‘Binte Dil’ and others are average. The background music is outstanding and goes perfectly with every frame of the film.

Direction:

The director Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s efforts are totally visible and worth praising. He enhances the film to unimaginable manner. The movie is a visual treat for all cinema lovers and a text book for young directors over how to set a picture perfect frame. His hard work is commendable. Right from the grand sets, minuet detailing, fantastic costumes and extracting life’s best performance from his team, Sanjay does it all with total grace. Sadly, the same cannot be said when it comes to finding the soul of the film as it was highly missing at frequent intervals. The magic, love and intensity which he created in ‘Bajirao Mastani’ is nowhere to be seen in this movie. The love story between Shahid and Deepika was bland, the dramatic points failed to get established and the finale lacked the connect factor.

Performances:

Ranveer Singh is flawlessly outstanding in the movie. Right from his victorious walk, his lecherous eyes, his thirsty body language, his evil laughter and monstrous attitude, Ranveer shines high in every aspect. Deepika Padukone looked stunningly beautiful and was totally elegant in every frame of the film. Shahid Kapoor looks fantastic, but has hardly any meat to offer. Aditi Rao Hydari looks pretty, wish one could say the same for her screen length. Jim Sarbh lends fantastic support to Ranveer, but goes bit overboard in few scenes.. Raza Murad, Anupriya goenka and others are wasted. Ayaam Mehta is fine in his part.

Final Verdict:

So on an overall basis, ‘Padmaavat’ is a creatively extravagance piece of Indian cinema which surpasses the standards of a grand film to its ultimate moment. It’s a out and out Ranveer Singh show, which sets a benchmark in terms of acting. Sadly, for all those who are expecting a lot or trying to compare it with ‘Bajirao Mastani’, will end up with a underwhelming feeling as the soul is occasionally missing.